Introduction: Acute exercise and exercise training may confer epigenetic
modifications in healthy subjects. Epigenetic effects after exercise
have been showed in patients with cardiovascular disease. The aim of
this systematic review was to summarize the evidence from available
clinical trials that study epigenetic adaptations after exercise in
patients with cardiovascular disease. Methods: The search strategy was
performed in PubMed and CENTRAL databases on articles published until
September 2020. Studies with titles and abstracts relevant to exercise
epigenetic modification applied to cardiovascular patients were fully
examined. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were utilized for studies
screening. Quality assessment with PEDro scale and evaluation by two
independent reviewers was performed. Results: Of the 1714 articles
retrieved, 88 articles were assessed for eligibility criteria and 8
articles matched our search criteria and finally included in the
systematic analysis. The acute exercise epigenetic (miRNAs) effects were
assessed in three studies and the chronic exercise training effects
(miRNAs and DNA methylation) in six studies. The results have shown that
there is possibly an acute significant exercise effect on epigenetic
targets which is more evident after chronic exercise training.
Conclusions: By the present systematic review, we provide preliminary
evidence of beneficial epigenetic adaptations following acute and
chronic exercise in patients with cardiovascular disease. More
controlled studies are needed to confirm such evidence